Monday, 17 December

18:19

Listeners to BBC Radio 4s Today programme on
December 15th heard the following (from 05:06here) in a news bulletin
presented by Alan Smith. [emphasis in italics in the original,
emphasis in bold added]

Smith: Australia says it now
recognises West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel but it wont be
moving its embassy from Tel Aviv at this stage. The prime minister
Scott Morrison has also acknowledged the aspirations of
Palestinians for a future state with its capital in East
Jerusalem. The divided city, where the Israeli
parliament is located, is not internationally recognised as the
countrys capital. Phil Mercer reports from Sydney.

Apparently BBC Radio 4 along with the BBCs
correspondent in Sydney is so used to using the politically
partisan term East Jerusalem that it has forgotten that although
Jerusalem was indeed divided during the nineteen-year period of the
unrecognisedJordanian occupationthat began in 1948, it was ...

16:29

Kanowna solar farm near Moree believed to be first to use both
DC optimisers and centralised DC-coupled inverters to cater for
battery storage and get around network connection hurdles. The post
Solar farms getting smaller, cheaper and smarter to overcome grid
hurdles appeared first on RenewEconomy.

14:19

Published on Dec 16,
2018European auto
resignations plunge, this is not a good sign, we are seeing auto
sales in the US and Europe decline. Home prices in Australia,
Canada and Europe are declining, the housing prices in the US are
also dropping, bubble is deflating. Q posted how the Fed is going
to be taken down by gold, Trump confirms this by his past comments
on gold. The timing will be everything but the build up to
contradict and bring the Fed down is in the works.Published on Dec 16, 2018Texas Judge rules
Obamacare is unconstitutional. Robert Mueller gives the 302's to
the Judge. Clinton answers questions under oath and can't remember
20 of them. The MSM is preparing for video and other news by
telling everyone do not believe what you see or hear. Anons
explains whats coming up.

13:23

The Strategic Framework for Suicide Prevention in
NSW 2018-2023 was developed by the NSW Mental Health
Commission and the NSW Ministry of Health in collaboration with
people with lived experience of suicide attempts or losing a loved
one to suicide, government agencies, mental health organisations
and experts in suicide prevention.

The Framework identifies five priority action areas to reduce
suicide in NSW:

Building individual and community resilience and
wellbeing
To help people cope with tough times

Strengthening the community response to suicide and
suicidal behaviour
To help people recognise those who are at risk of suicide, and take
steps to support them

Supporting excellence in clinical services and
care
To ensure people have access to appropriate, high quality clinical
services and care, including broader supports and
services

Promoting a collaborative, coordinated and integrated
approach
To reduce duplication and gaps

Innovating for a stronger evidence base
To know and use interventions that work to prevent suicide.

09:51

A coalition of environment, unions and faith groups protested
outside the Labor Partys national conference in Adelaide on Sunday,
calling for the party to stop the expansion of the fossil fuel
industry.

On the plus side, EDO NSW has endorsed the partys commitment to
create a national Environment Protection Authority.

Protesters demanded a stop to oil drilling in the Great
Australian Bight, preventing Adani and other coal mines in
Queenslands Galilee Basin and an end to fracking and gas
exploration, in the Northern Territory, Western Australias stunning
Kimberley and the Pilliga Forest in NSW.

The Wilderness Societys South Australia director, Peter Owen,
said it was, insane Australia is opening up new oil, gas and coal
frontiers when we know we need to stop burning fossil fuels.

Height of irresponsibility

Expanding the fossil fuel industry is the height of
irresponsibility and not an option if we are to have any chance of
providing our children with a liveable climate

Its also concerning that many of these fossil fuel frontiers are
in pristine areas such as the Great Australian Bight, Western
Australias stunning Kimberley and NSWs biggest inland forest, the
Pilliga. The Great Australian Bight whale nursery is a completely
inappropriate place for risky deep-sea oil drilling, especially as
we hurtle towards catastrophic climate change.

We now know we must act immediately to avoid locking in
catastrophic climate change. Allowing the fossil fuel industry to
expand would negate Labors good work in promoting renewable energy.
Its time for the Labor Party to show national leadership and commit
to stopping the expansion of the fossil fuel industry when it sets
its election platform at this national conference.

Philippa Rowland, president of Multifaith SA, said, people of
faith in Australia feel the urgent need for an ethical response to
threats posed to vulnerable communities from escalating climate
impacts across our region all climate policies must include a rapid
transition away from fossil fuels.

Youth fired up

Australian Youth Climate Coalition Campaign...

02:37

For parents enduring daily fights with their sons about video
games, the chilling video of Western Sydney man Luke Munday
allegedly hitting his partner as she begged him to stop playing
Fortnite was a manifestation of their worst fears this week.

Violent and aggressive reactions in children as young as eight
when they are asked to stop playing are not uncommon, said Game
Quitters founder Cam Adair.

Addiction to video games is forcing thousands of people into rehab
clinics.

Its unfortunately not uncommon, violence and aggression are
quite frequent reactions of people who are made to stop, he said
from the Chang Mai outpost of Sydney addiction centre The
Cabin.

We speak to a lot of parents who are at their wits ends, they
dont know how to make their sons stop.

Mr Adair estimates that there are 10 to 50 million gaming
addicts across the globe, with that number set to rise.

The volume of people seeking help is double or triple what it
was a year ago, and I think itll keep going up. Australia is a
really significant market for gaming companies, and thus fertile
ground for a video game addiction. Lots of people are
suffering.

Beginning in childhood, an addiction to video games can have
devastating consequences.

Last month, Sydney man Daniel Chapman, 22, was convicted of
fatally stabbing his father Steven Chapman with a 14cm blade when
the pair began arguing about Daniels refusal to stop playing
computer games and come to the dinner table in October 2016.

The marsupials varied diet could help safeguard some of
Australias fungi and forests

A small endangered marsupial with a taste for
truffles may be a linchpin in one kind of Australian forest and
the evidence is in the animals poop.

Northern bettongs feast on truffles, the meaty, spore-producing
parts of certain fungi. Plenty of animals eat a selection of these
subterranean orbs from time to time. But analyses of the scat from
northern bettongs (Bettongia tropica) reveal that the marsupials eat truffles from a wider
diversity of fungi species than other critters, including some
that no other animals appear to favor, researchers report November
22 in Molecular Ecology.

Thats an important role because these truffle-producing fungi
form beneficial relationships with tree roots, helping trees pull
nutrients and moisture from soil. Theres been a whole raft of
published studies showing that those fungi give plants an edge,
says Andrew Claridge, an ecologist for the New South Wales National
Parks and Wildlife Service in Queanbeyan who wasnt part of the
study.

Australias eucalyptus forests host hundreds, or possibly even
thousands, of truffle fungi species, says study coauthor Susan
Nuske, an ecologist at the Swedish University of Agricultural
Sciences in Ume. Different species seem to be specialized to
associate with particular trees or perform certain roles, so
maintaining that diversity is key. By spreading truffles spores via
scat, bettongs help keep the fungal community diverse and, by
extension, the forest healthy, say Nuske and her colleagues.

But...

Saturday, 15 December

23:32

The Powering Past Coal Alliance announced on Friday that Sydney
and Melbourne had joined the Alliance at an event: Accelerating the
global coal transition. This follows the Australian Capital
Territory joining in September 2018. Other states and businesses
that joined at COP24 included Israel, Scotland, Senegal, and
Scottish Power. The Alliance, formed in Bonn in 2017 at COP23, now
includes 80